Go Cat Cat Catcher Teaser Wand with Mouse Cat Toy

I'll start by saying that my cats absolutely LOVE this toy! I have a very tiny 5 month old girl, and a large male a little over a year old, and they both enjoy it equally. In fact, I've told everyone I know about this toy, as well as its featherd cousin type, and not one single person has reported anything other than absolutely glowing reports from their kitties. It seems that cats of all sizes and ages agree that this toy is one of their favorites. To the humans however, this is an odd little object that fails to impress. Given the choice, I would certainly select a much fancier, more refined toy. Does that matter though? No, my feline family members strongly disagree with my assessment, and are clearly the voice of reason......It's A MOUSE?! What more do we need to say?! Seriously, the cats really do behave as if this simple little object is actually a live mouse they've been fortunate enough to encounter in their own living room. They have chased and played with this toy until they've literally fallen over with their tongues hanging out in exhaustion. Now.......Having spent time singing this toy's praises, I'll also explain why I advise you to use caution. This toy is not well designed; it fails to offer any practical safety assurances at all. Firstly, it's just connected to a plain wire that easily splits into small, sharp edges. Please carefully monitor the condition of the wire, especially if your cat is a chewer. Assume that it's fragile, and remember it's not durable, so it will need to be discarded right away if it shows any wear. It will otherwise easily cut your kitty's mouth. Secondly, the wire can easily turn into an unintentional weapon. During a play session, it's not uncommon to whip your little guy in the body or face with a swinging wire (maybe more than once, depending on how tough your kitty is with the mouse). Trust me, you'll feel awful! The sad part is that there's very little you can do to avoid such an accidental mishap. As I said, it's obviously a poor choice in materials. Lastly, I have to complain about how easy it is for even a gentle cat to destroy this cheap "mouse" creature. (I would actually like to avoid calling this awful gray thing a "mouse", but for space/time considerations, I think it's the easiest term.) So, the gray mouse lump item is about the size of your thumb, assuming your thumb isn't at all larger than the average woman's. The object has a pitiful piece of fabric for a "tail", which at least at my house, is immediately lost somewhere under the couch midway through the first play session. Even worse yet, there's only a round plastic piece, glued on with awful, cheap glue, that serves as the mouse's face. Now, I understand that our cats do not care if their toys have a proper set of eyes, and ears, or a nose and mouth for that matter. However, at around $10.00 a piece, I would just feel better if the company would at least bother to add a durable tail, and maybe an eye or two. In conclusion, I'll admit that I have spent approximately $100.00 on replacements for this stupid toy. So, even though it's priced way above a reasonable amount, and I have very real safety concerns about it, I've obviously continued to buy the mouse. There's only one reason.........my babies just absolutely love it.

I got this because I could not afford the $15 version that had all the good reviews (broke college student). As I was unwrapping it my cat was going nuts trying to play with it. When I got it out my cat went NUTS playing with it. This product comes with a warning saying to put out of reach of the cat when not in use. I did not understand that until I started playing with it and my cat. This is my cats all time favorite toy. The toy is PERFECT!!! Instead of a string, it comes on a wire. The thing that the cat chases (I got the mouse) is small and detachable (good things). The toy mimics a fly in distress at times which makes my cat go nuts trying to get it. It is very well made. I have only had it a little over a week, but it is holding up AMAZINGLY. I think that this would make a good gift for anyone with a cat. My moms lazy cat loved this. My cat gets soo worn out playing with this that he is panting for 10 minutes and resting for hours after a 15-20 minute play session, which has never happened since I have had him. I have found nothing wrong with this toy. If it ever breaks I will buy a new one. I think that they sell replacement ends to this for variety or if you cat eats the one it comes with. My cat when he catches the toy will NOT let go, you have to force it out of his mouth. UPDATE 1/8/14- I have had this toy for 1 year now and it is still my cats all time favorite toy. He still goes insane for it and waits by where I keep it. After 1 year of heavy use the only damage is that the tail has come off of the mouse. Other than that it is in perfect condition and is holding up better than any toy for any animal I have ever had. I have bought my cat countless toys over this past year but this one is still by far his favorite. This toy has kept my cat from becoming very overweight. I have actually had to increase the amount of food I feed him because this toy keeps him really trim. I can not recommend this toy enough for any cat.

Simple, durable cat toy. The sport fishermen out there will immediately recognize this setup as a "mouse" connected to a 3 foot braided stainless steel fishing leader with a snap swivel on one end that is connected to a 12" plastic wand on the other end. This is like "kitty crack" and my cat comes running from anywhere in the house when she hears this come out of the drawer. Pros: - My 7 month old kitten loves this toy more than any food treat. She will chase it until I am arm weary from flicking it around - like an hour - Compact size, easy to carry and store in a drawer. I had it in a box and my cat knocked the box off a table trying to play with the mouse - The stainless leader is nearly indestructible because it's made for sport fishing for game fish like walleye and northern pike - fish with teeth! - The mouse seems well constructed, it's lost an "eye" but it's still in great shape after heavy use - I read many of the horror stories and scary reviews that this toy is a death trap waiting to kill your cat, knock out their teeth or blind them. With supervision, care and common sense, I haven't had any issues. That being said "supervision" and "common sense" are keys. Cons: - I don't have any from my experience other than to reinforce that this is a toy that requires adult supervision and common sense because the braided stainless steel leader has no "give" and it has a metal swivel on the end that could cause issues if you zing it around like a miniature bullwhip or fail to respect the fact that the steel leader could be like a garrote - a hand held wire used to slit throats. In summary, with proper vigilance and supervision, this is an excellent cat toy and my cat goes nuts as soon as I take it out of the drawer. If the cat is sleeping somewhere I can't find her, all I need to do is start swinging this toy around and she shows up. Great fun and a solid cat workout toy when used with simple common sense. Update - the wire leader broke but it was simple to fix. The leader pulled through the plastic end and I fixed that by drilling through the handle and reattaching the leader. For $7 it works well.

Update: August 13, 2014 I have decided to STOP buying this product. The quality on this product sucks. I have purchased about 10 of them now. They break within a week. The cats love them too. I have two bengal kitties now who love the product but it doesn't take much for the wire to break off causing the fun to stop. I refuse to keep purchasing something that is a great product but does not have quality in mind. They just want you to keep buying them and buying them. I fell for it but no more. Sorry kitties....I am going to find another toy so I don't go bankrupt on a less than "well made" product. So annoying. Fix the darn thing so it doesn't break so easy. 5 stars from kitty (when it's able to be played with) - 1 star from me (since it is not able to be played with long before breaking). ************* My cat's FAVORITE TOY ever. Seriously she goes crazy for this toy and I have so many others. She knows what drawer it is in and loves to play with this. My son plays with her for hours with this stupid toy. The little attachment doesn't last long so I bought others. The only problem (I can't take a star off because the kittens won't stop playing with it anyway) is the wire broke at the top (my husband used tape to put it back on). And the wire keeps getting kinked. Sad to say I bought a whole brand new one for xmas. They definitely need to make this a little better but my cats love it. And I love watching them jump high in the air trying to catch the thing on the end. It's funny.

If the rating was based purely on my two cats' enjoyment, it would easily be 5 stars. It's their all-time favorite! The sound of this toy makes them drop everything and run over, chattering with anticipation. In fact, it's the only toy that we can consistently rely on to tire them out (they're young and full of energy, but quickly bored with most other toys). It's also incredibly entertaining to watch them play with this toy--they'll jump and flip for it, and when they catch it they'll try to carry it in their mouths to all corners of the house to "hide" it in shoes and under pillows... usually with the other cat pouncing on the wand as it drags behind Unfortunately, I had to deduct a star because this toy has tons of small and/or sharp pieces, so I have to be especially careful to put it away when I'm not around, and if it's not put away, I can't let it out of my sight (so when my cats carry it away, I can't just let them have it and chew on it for a little bit before round 2... instead, I have to follow and get it back pretty much as soon as they drop it). So I wish I didn't have to be quite so alert when my cats are playing with this toy, but at the same time, they're in love, which means we will definitely be buying more in the future. Now, you can stop reading here, but if you want more details about the small/sharp bits, here's a piece-by-piece breakdown... The mouse: My cats LOVE this thing, but they also love to chew, so within no time, they chew off the tail bit-by-bit, they expose the metal bar under the tail that many other reviewers have mentioned and shared pictures of, and they chew off all the thin rubber "hair", leaving it all over the place and probably swallowing a decent amount of it (but at least that sort of thing is easy to pass). The attachments: Others have complained about the metal attachments (between the mouse and the wire) being dangerous, and I agree, but I can't leave my cats alone with this toy anyway, so I actually appreciate them. For one, they make an interesting sound when the toy is rattled, and I think that's part of what makes my cats go crazy (makes it sound more like something is scampering across the floor). Also, I've discovered that when a mouse is finally destroyed beyond recognizability, I can easily just attach one of their other small toys to it (instead of paying more money for a replacement mouse that is less safe and durable anyway) and they love it almost as much because the attachments still make the noise, and it still has the wire (which is probably the most important part of this toy)... The wire: This is what makes the mouse (or replacement toy) move in the unpredictable way that drives cats crazy. Luckily, I haven't had any of mine fray like others have. I don't know if I've just gotten lucky or if it's because I'm very careful not to let my cats ever chew on this part since I'm sure the metal wouldn't be great for their teeth (also wouldn't let them chew on attachments, but they've never tried that). The wand: The wand is a clear hard plastic tube that's 12" long, filled with a sparkly silver or gold pipe cleaner, and capped with red soft plastic at the ends. I don't mind the small size because it makes it easier for the cats to drag the toys without getting the wand stuck going around corners, but a longer one would make it easier to play with the toy sitting down (I currently have to walk all over the place to keep the cats running--otherwise they'll just be lazy and sit/lie down, and for us the point is to drain as much of their energy as possible). On another note, one of our cats has discovered that he really likes chewing on the end of the wand, which I wouldn't mind (plastic is softer than teeth so shouldn't cause much harm, and better he bites that than his sister), except that he pretty quickly chewed the red plastic cap off which was scary for two reasons: 1. the cap is only about half an inch long so it definitely could have been swallowed, and 2. once the cap was off, the sharp metal pipe cleaner end was exposed which could have hurt his gums. So I had to remove both the cap and the pipe cleaner, probably taking some of the fun out of it for him (the clear plastic isn't as soft and chewy as the red and it was probably fun for him to feel like he pulled a chunk off), but safe beats fun, so he'll get over it.

We have one very loved, very spoiled Perry (a cat, of course). He was a poor little deaf kitten found completely abandoned in a park-n-ride lot who is the king of the castle now! Besides being completely deaf, Perry suffers from Pica and cannot be trusted not to eat inappropriate items (mostly foam rubber type things, elastic, material, paper, etc). So, I am always searching for new toys for Perry that he will love, that he won't eat, and that don't rely on noise for a fun factor. This means he has a lot of toys. A lot!!! That is where the cat catcher comes in. I bought the initial one for crazy cheap on sale thinking that at least this one toy wasn't going to break the bank if it was ignored like so many before it. However, this toy is one he gets excited about again and again (and again and again and again)! I don't know if it is the wiggle of the tiny mouse on the end or the way the short wire "string" makes it snap away quickly. As soon as he sees anyone going to the cupboard where it is kept, he is right there underfoot! He will literally play with this until he is panting and it has to be put away where he can't get to it (which is why it is kept in a cupboard)! I wouldn't have thought this toy could induce so much excitement. The mouse is teeny-tiny, and both the wire and the stick are short. So short, as a matter of fact, that I am the only one who will play with him with it for more than a few minutes because it works best if you can move it around fast and to do that you should be standing. And by standing, I mean stooping over a little. We have to wrap the hook that attaches the mouse to the wire in electrical tape so it won't catch on his teeth or claws and hurt him. Which means the toy needs close, constant supervision to make sure it is safe for him. And yet, Perry and I spend a minimum of two 15 minute a day play sessions with this one toy. He love it and I love him so it is more than worth the small hassles of this amazing toy to see him so very content!

Go Cat Cat Catcher Teaser Wand with Mouse Cat toy - BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS!!!! I thought I would give this cat toy a try. You know, add to my collection of cat toys that are now in a toy box because he never uses them? He never touches any of them. I don't know why I keep trying. I decided I would try just ONE MORE because it's now vital that Teamer gets exercise. He is very overweight and I was desperate. I am in shock, here. He is 20 pound indoor cat and finds it almost impossible to jump up on anything or play, anymore, because of his weight. My vet ordered my Teamer on a strict diet to avoid diabetes. I was also encouraged to get him motivated. Yeah, right. I have daily migraines and other health issues that make it very hard for me to play with Teamer. I even contemplated letting him outside, which is the last thing I wanted to do. This toy was like "the answer" to me and Teamer. I thank the manufacturer of this mouse toy and Amazon.com for carrying it. It has changed our lives. Because now he has a toy that I think is magical because I'm almost wondering myself, if it is a real mouse! Lol. He goes wild over it, exerting tons of energy. It really is a miracle. All I have to do is wave it around on the ground or fling it above his head and he jumps up, spins around and "gets" it and takes it away! Or I throw it down the flight of stairs, and he RUNS so fast to the bottom and "catches" it. He even sometimes plays with it on his own. When I get up in the morning, he is sometimes lying next to it. It has become his "go to thing" instead of food! He actually carries the whole thing, wand and all, just as a cat would a real mouse. He holds it in his jaws until he thinks it's dead; shakes it and then drops it a special place, and looks at it. All the things they would do with a real mouse. It really is amazing. He acts like a kitten again, something I never thought I would see. The design of it has what it takes. It doesn't look like anything special to me. I think it must have been designed by a cat! Ha. It also has some hardware on the mouse that mimics mouse parts, somehow. THANK YOU so much! I think you may have saved Teamer's life and you have made mine a whole lot less worrisome! God Bless.

The wand is so short and flimsy, especially when compared to the length and heft of the steel leader and attachments. I wish I could interchange the wand, because the leader is great. My cat loves the toy part, but I know the wand will break soon. I can barely toss the toy with such a dinky wand. Suggestion to the designer: use a wand like the cat dancer cat charmer.